Uruguay is one of the 20 best democracies in the world

Uruguay is one of the 20 best democracies in the world

Uruguay is in the top 20 as a “full democracy”, according to the 2016 Democracy Index made by the magazine The Economist. For the first time, and after Donald Trump’s victory, United States is considered a “flawed democracy”.

The 2016 ranking is leaded by Norway and has Uruguay in the 19th position, with a score of 8.17 out of ten. Uruguay highlights in some issues like “electoral process and pluralism” and “civil liberties” where it has the maximum score of 10.00.

Another topics like “functioning of government” (8.93) or “political culture” (7.50) have also good scores. The worst score is for “political participation”, where Uruguay has only 4.44.

Uruguayan democracy appears as the best in Latin America and Uruguay is the second placed Spanish-speaking country, placed below Spain, which is in the 17th position.

One of the particularities of the report is that the United States is downgraded from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy”, due to the “further erosion of trust in government and elected officials there”, according to the group’s website.

According to The Economist, Latin America is living a “populist hangover”, after various countries of the region are now in more “calm” political contexts, with the rise of “center-right” and pro-markets” governments, leaving behind “left populisms”, which were the answer to neoliberal policies in the past decades.